I bought Amsterdam (1998) by Ian McEwan around the time I read Atonement – so probably around 2003, i.e. half my life ago, more or less. I’ve been up and down with McEwan, but have somehow never read this Booker prizewinner – and now I have, it is right up there with my favourites of his.
I had assumed – you can see why – that the novella took place in Amsterdam. While there are moments there, the full impact of the title isn’t clear for a while, and much of the novel takes place firmly on English soil. It opens with the funeral of Molly Lane, and conversation between two of her former lovers. Clive is a composer, writing a symphony for the millennium; Vernon is the editor of The Judge, a newspaper that has been slowly declining for a long time and may be on its last legs.
Vernon and Clive have more in common than their mutual lover (deceased). They have been friends for a long time, and have still a friendship that is equal parts affection, competition, and disdain. McEwan is very good at the spiky sort of witty unpleasantness of a certain sort of man, and both these men are in that category. He’s also good about creative processes, and I think he writes well about musical composition. I say ‘I think’, because I can’t do it and have no idea what composers would say, but it worked for me.
Creation apart, the writing of a symphony is physically arduous. Every second of playing time involved writing out, note by note, the parts of up to two dozen instruments, playing them back, making adjustments to the score, playing again, rewriting, then sitting in silence, listening to the inner ear synthesize and orchestrate the vertical array of scribbles and deletions; amending again until the bar is right, and playing it once more on the piano. By midnight Clive had extended and written out in full the rising passage, and was starting on the great orchestral hiatus that would precede the sprawling change of key. By four o’clock in the morning he had written out the major parts and knew exactly how the modulation would work, how the mists would evaporate.
I shan’t say too much about the plot, but both men come up against moral quandaries – harming someone, or at least not preventing harm, in the name of their art/profession. McEwan’s spin on this is that neither of them really see the moral dilemma in their own lives, but only in each other’s. And neither is nice enough for this to be a learning experience. Amsterdam is perhaps a dark comedy. Or maybe a light tragedy.
So, I thought it was brilliant – and a page-turner too. The only reservation I have is what a blank space Molly is. Yes, she is dead before the book begins, but McEwan never really gives us any sense of her vitality before she died, or why so many men were attracted to her. Or maybe she is meant to remain an enigma.
Another great Novellas in November read – keep checking out Cathy and Rebecca‘s blogs to see what everyone else is reading!
If I remember rightly, there is a brilliant scene set at the newspaper, where the editor is seeking content for those inane columns that have become ubiquitous now. They brainstorm potential topics, of which I remember, ‘why do I always get the trolley that won’t steer straight’ and something about ‘navel fluff’. It was very funny, with a sting in the tail.
I copied it out and sent it to a couple of local newspaper editors to express my disdain, not realising then that the dumbing down of the media was an unstoppable force…
Yes, exactly that! Interestingly, I’ve just read a ’20s novel where a journalist has to write on topics that are very similar, so maybe such things ever were…
I read this a good few years ago and remember really enjoying it.
Like you, I’ve had my ups and downs with McEwan; the downs have extended for some time now (he lost me at Saturday, which, despite some brilliant passages, just didn’t work for me). I did read Amsterdam a good many years ago and remember I liked it, although many of the details have now faded. Your review makes me want to read it again!
Sounds excellent, Simon. I don’t know that I’ve ever read him but this definitely sounds like a good placed to start if I do!
My comment was going to be almost identical to Janakay’s! I remember practically nothing about this but I do remember reading it and Enduring Love in fairly close succession and enjoying them both.
Haha that part you have quoted is everything I hate about Ian McEwan – mansplaining in full a topic he has only just learned about, clumsily showing off all the research he has done and wedging it into the plot via a brilliant and talented middle-aged man character.
But it sounds like the rest of the book is good :)
Ha! Yeah, when you put it like that…
I’m pretty sure I read this, maybe soon after it was published, hm. I only remember not liking it much and getting put off him. Oh well! In other news, I’ve actually finished four novellas this month already myself but I’m not getting into a one-a-day thing. Promise!
Hunh. Interesting. I remember thinking this would be one of the first of his books I would read too (along with Atonement, yes, just as you’ve said)…but I’ve still not gotten to this one yet either. He does intrigue me….even when he discomfits me. I think what he chooses to tell stories about…that’s what interests me…even though the stories themselves are sometimes rather horrid when it comes down to how they play out for the characters in them, yaknow?
Gosh, McEwan really is a mixed bag, isn’t he? I read Atonement at the start of the year and really wasn’t a fan, but I decided to give him another go to bookend the year with The Children Act, and it’s amazing! This one sounds great, too! Maybe he’s just going to be one of those “hit and miss” authors for me…
Oh interesting! I liked Atonement a lot, but everyone seems to have different favourites. Though not sure anyone liked Nutshell :D
I just read this with a book group and responses were very mixed. We all agreed that the characters were all terrible, and some of us were dismayed at the portrayal of women. One member argued that it was a social satire. I did find it a pretty easy read and mostly liked it and the twist at the end. I was a little surprised that one of the characters almost predicted Brexit and the right wing trend which was rather shocking to me, I hadn’t realized people were arguing in favor of Brexit that long ago! I’d only ever read one other by McEwan which was Atonement, I know he’s quite polarizing.